


Tough as Nails

by samidha



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comment Fic, Dean and Kids, Gen, Hiatus, S5-S6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-04
Updated: 2011-03-04
Packaged: 2018-12-13 20:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11767338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/samidha
Summary: Ben listens to the whimpers coming from all around him and he knows he is the lucky one.





	Tough as Nails

Moonlight shines in through an opening somewhere, painting the room in sharp shadows. He is surrounded by soft, insistent sobs coming from every side. He listens hard, waiting for the sound of movement from deeper in the house, beyond the door that he knows is locked.

It’s only a matter of time before the thing returns, the woman with the twisted face who pets them like animals, like her possessions.

He knows he’s only seen her once, but that was enough.

He rubs the back of his neck and does not wince.

He counts the slivers of moonlight that paint the floor, counts the number of bars on the cage, then the spaces between them. He listens to the sounds coming from all around him and he knows he is the lucky one.

Someone is coming for him. Someone has to be coming for him.

And he waits. He waits for--

*~*~*

”Dean!”

He’s sitting at the kitchen table, a flask tight in his grip when he hears the boy scream, feels all the anguish and fear in it rip right through him. He stands and runs, grateful that Ben fell asleep in front of The Exorcist in the next room instead of upstairs where he might have gone unheard. He comes to a stop in front of the couch and squats, shaking Ben toward wakefulness.

”Come on, kid...”

Ben gasps, like he’s coming up from deep underwater and pulling in his very first breath.

He’s reminded of someone else. The thought surfaces automatically just like always, but he manages to push it down.

Ben needs him. Someone else needs him now.

”Dean...I...”

”Hey. It’s over now. I got you.” The words feel thick in his throat. He brings a hand to Ben’s shoulder, as much to ground himself as anything.

He doesn’t ask what the nightmare is about.

”Got you,” he says, and he tries to mean it, tries to stay present with this boy that he loves and not twenty years away in another place and time.

He listens to Ben breathing hard and fast, feels him shaking a little in his grasp.

You’re still here.

The thought skitters through his mind, past his self-loathing and his doubt and settles deep in his chest, the place where Ben lives, full of love and hope and a little pride: Because of me. You’re still here because of me.

Ben sighs and shifts closer to Dean on the couch.

”Thanks,” Ben says. ”For...”

He shakes his head. ”S’what I’m here for.”

”Yeah. I know.”

”I wish you didn’t.”

”I don’t.”

Dean tries on a smile. It feels awkward on his face, but Ben smiles back.

”I owe you one,” Ben says, and he supposes it might be true.


End file.
